OUR VIEW: Three times too many

Published: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 6:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 6:10 p.m.

As much as they might deny it, people like to look at gory things. The popularity of horror movies confirms it — as does the number of website views of our story and photo gallery on Monday’s incident in which chicken parts got dumped onto East Meighan Boulevard.

The thing is, horror movies are escapist fantasy. Chicken innards dumped onto the busiest highway in Etowah County, in the middle of the day, in 90-degree heat, is a real-live mess.

Two lanes of East Meighan were closed for about four hours after the driver of the truck hit his brakes and some of his load sloshed out, which of course snarled traffic and inconvenienced drivers. The Gadsden-Etowah County Emergency Management Agency was called out because this kind of spill, regardless what kind of creature the parts come from, can quickly become a serious environmental and health hazard.

A cleanup crew from the company that owns the truck eventually arrived on the scene, vacuumed up the mess, sprayed the pavement with sanitizer, spread some sand and then vacuumed again.

So, that made everything OK, and everyone went on his or her way, none the worse for the experience, right?

Wrong.

According to local EMA officials, this is the third time the company has had this kind of spill, in the exact same location, in the last few years. The chicken parts are being hauled, unsealed, in a regulation dump truck, covered only by a tarp.

Local drivers who brave Meighan daily know it’s inevitable that they will, at some point, have to spike their brakes in traffic. In that scenario, a truck hauling a messy cargo, with nothing to keep it inside the bed if the load shifts, is a disaster waiting to happen.

Some might say “things happen,” and that three times in a few years for this kind of spill is an acceptable rate, nothing to worry about.

We think it’s three times too many to have Gadsden’s streets polluted with the worst kind of mess.

The company involved seemed to have the cleanup process down pat; it seems to us that a little prevention would be in order.

Those hauling this kind of cargo should find a way to keep it contained. If they don’t do it willingly, maybe it’s time for a tap on the shoulder from the government.

<p>As much as they might deny it, people like to look at gory things. The popularity of horror movies confirms it — as does the number of website views of our story and photo gallery on Monday's incident in which chicken parts got dumped onto East Meighan Boulevard. </p><p>The thing is, horror movies are escapist fantasy. Chicken innards dumped onto the busiest highway in Etowah County, in the middle of the day, in 90-degree heat, is a real-live mess.</p><p>Two lanes of East Meighan were closed for about four hours after the driver of the truck hit his brakes and some of his load sloshed out, which of course snarled traffic and inconvenienced drivers. The Gadsden-Etowah County Emergency Management Agency was called out because this kind of spill, regardless what kind of creature the parts come from, can quickly become a serious environmental and health hazard.</p><p>A cleanup crew from the company that owns the truck eventually arrived on the scene, vacuumed up the mess, sprayed the pavement with sanitizer, spread some sand and then vacuumed again.</p><p>So, that made everything OK, and everyone went on his or her way, none the worse for the experience, right?</p><p>Wrong.</p><p>According to local EMA officials, this is the third time the company has had this kind of spill, in the exact same location, in the last few years. The chicken parts are being hauled, unsealed, in a regulation dump truck, covered only by a tarp.</p><p>Local drivers who brave Meighan daily know it's inevitable that they will, at some point, have to spike their brakes in traffic. In that scenario, a truck hauling a messy cargo, with nothing to keep it inside the bed if the load shifts, is a disaster waiting to happen.</p><p>Some might say “things happen,” and that three times in a few years for this kind of spill is an acceptable rate, nothing to worry about.</p><p>We think it's three times too many to have Gadsden's streets polluted with the worst kind of mess.</p><p>The company involved seemed to have the cleanup process down pat; it seems to us that a little prevention would be in order.</p><p>Those hauling this kind of cargo should find a way to keep it contained. If they don't do it willingly, maybe it's time for a tap on the shoulder from the government.</p>